Lack of jobs, schooling for nothing

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No matter how hard you try at school, your fate is sealed if there are no jobs available afterwards.

For Lina Savelive, 54, from the village of Vaoala, that is one of the biggest issues Samoa faces right now. Running a small roadside stall in the village, Lina says that no matter how much they spend putting the children through school, they can’t find jobs.

“A big problem we face is that we spend so much money on the children’s schooling and after their done, they can’t find jobs,” she told the Village Voice.

“There are not enough jobs in Samoa to go around and when my children give submit application letters all they say is for them to just wait.”

“They’re better off just staying at home to help out with the chores. If they were to just wait around for the jobs then it’s a huge waste of time.”

Other than the lack of jobs, Lina says life in general is not easy.

“I admit that life isn’t that easy,” she said.

“I have many children and some have their own families. My husband also has a job but when he gets his pay it’s just not enough for everything the family needs.”

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“I try and plant a lot of vegetables to try and help out where I’m needed.”

The money I make here combined with my husband’s pay goes towards everything the family needs especially the children’s schooling.”

With many people having no other option but to take up farming to make ends meet, Lina says it’s no easy task.

No matter how much time someone spends in tending the farm, there are still factors out of our control that comes into play; an example would be infertile soil.

“The work I do on the plantation isn’t the easiest of tasks,” Lina said.

“There’s nothing easy about working the land. The hard part is trying to get the soil to be good enough to grow the crops.”

“And even when we get the soil to be at a good enough quality, there will always be some plants which grow well and others who do not and just die.”

“The main vegetable I grow that has been a lot of help is watercress. Most of the things we sell at our stall were bought in town to be sold again here for a $1 profit.”

“But the watercress is grown and some of the other vegetable are grown.”